Illinois has long legacy of public corruption, at least 79 elected officials have been convicted of wrongdoing since 1972

MSNBC .com has a story that details the long history of corruption that has engulfed Illinois politics which dates back to the late 19th century, and we thought New Jersey had problems with corrupt officials :

” Illinois’ official slogan is the “Land of Lincoln,” but an equally apt descriptor would be the “Land of Greased Palms.”

The state, Cook County and its governmental seat, Chicago, have a long history of corruption by elected and appointed officials.

The culture of corruption dates back to the late 19th century, when a gambling-house owner named Michael Cassius McDonald created the city’s first political machine, establishing a model in which officials would distribute contracts, jobs and social services in exchange for political support, according to a scholarly history of organized crime in Chicago by Robert Lombardo, a sociology professor and former Chicago and Cook County police officer.

Its persistence was documented in Sept. 7, 2006 by the Chicago Sun-Times, which reported that at least 79 current or former Illinois, Chicago or Cook County elected officials had been found guilty of a crime by judges, juries or their own pleas since 1972. The paper provided this tally of the tarnished: three governors, two other state officials, 15 state legislators, two congressmen, one mayor, three other city officials, 27 aldermen, 19 Cook County judges and seven other Cook County officials.”…